The Corporate Athlete | Chris Tazewell | Episode 003

Chris Tazewell | Account Executive | Former Athlete | Thought Leader

"If you work hard and just do your job, you're going to get promoted. That's probably one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves. You could be working hard in the wrong direction, in the wrong pond, in the wrong field."

THE STORY

Chris Tazewell turned down a $100,000 job offer during COVID to take an unpaid internship.

Not because he was desperate. Because he was strategic.

After four years managing teams at 22 years old, he got laid off. He had options—multiple six-figure offers on the table. But none of them were in tech, and he knew sales quotas that reset every month weren't the life he wanted.

"Everybody thought I was crazy," Chris told me. "I had never even made more than 70K at the time. But I knew I didn't want to do sales the way I was doing it, and I wanted to make the pivot into customer success."

So he took the three-month program. Found out only 20 out of 60 people would get hired full-time. Decided 20 people weren't better than him. Showed up like a full-time employee from day one. Set up calls with VPs and directors. Made himself impossible to ignore.

Two months later, he doubled his salary.

Now he's a tech sales executive who's closed over $12 million in deals, maintained 155%+ revenue retention, won President's Club four times, and built a $120,000 leadership development program from scratch as co-chair of his company's Black ERG—a side project that gave him access to C-suite executives and taught him skills no job description would have covered.

But what struck me most about Chris wasn't the numbers or the wins. It was his answer to a simple question: What do you wish someone had told you five years ago?

"Confident humility," he said. "Being confident that you're going to figure it out, no matter what. But being humble enough to know the path of how you get there might change."

In our conversation, Chris breaks down why hard work alone won't get you promoted, how he went from managing 20 people making $50K to being an individual contributor making $150K+, why saying yes to things that don't add value is killing your career, and what it really takes to navigate a world where AI is rewriting the playbook faster than anyone can keep up.

Most people confuse movement with progress. Chris is proof that sometimes the smartest move is taking three steps back to leap ten steps forward.

WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT

→ Why "work hard and you'll get promoted" is the biggest lie in corporate America

→ The mindset shift that led him to turn down a $100K offer for an internship

→ How he went from managing 20 people making $50K to being an individual contributor making 3x that

→ Why "confident humility" is the most important concept he's learned in his career

→ What most people misunderstand about sales (hint: it's not about talking)

→ How Tim Ferriss's The 4-Hour Workweek completely redefined his relationship with money and time

→ Why he stopped saying yes to things that don't add value—including cutting hair for $20

→ How becoming co-chair of his company's Black ERG gave him $120K in funding and access to C-suite executives

→ The one question he wishes more people would ask themselves: When's the last time you rethought the path you're on?

QUOTABLES

"If you work hard and just do your job, you're going to get promoted. That's probably one of the biggest lies. You could be working in the wrong direction, in the wrong pond, in the wrong field."

"Confident humility: Being confident that you're going to figure it out, no matter what. But being humble in the sense that the path of how you get there might change."

"If you're doing good sales, it's not about talking. It's really focused on nurturing culture and relationships. If I'm talking 20% of the call and my prospect is talking 70-80%, I've created an environment where they feel safe."

"No company is going to take care of you the same way that you're going to take care of yourself. So you need to be proactive in creating your nest egg."

"When's the last time you rethought the path you're on and does it still apply? AI has the world moving so fast. You have to rethink every quarter."

CONNECT WITH CHRIS

Instagram (Corporate Athlete): @corporateathlete_

Instagram (Personal): @just_tazz_

What's Next: Launching his podcast in the next 1-2 months, speaking at tech conferences, and continuing to mentor professionals breaking into tech